I've always been a fan of Charles Bronson, but for whatever reason, I didn't get around to checking out the DEATH WISH franchise until just a few years ago. Before the series quickly turned Bronson's character of Paul Kersey into a one-man army capable of dispatching scores of baddies, the first film presented a mild-mannered character who abhorred violence and hadn't so much as touched a gun in years. The every-man quality of Paul Kersey and his harsh retaliation against the criminals who assaulted his family struck a chord with audiences upon its release, so it's no surprise that there have been rumblings of a remake for years. After several failed attempts, the DEATH WISH remake will finally be brought to us by Eli Roth (THE GREEN INFERNO) and stars Bruce Willis as Paul Kersey.
Our first look at DEATH WISH has arrived in the form of several photos, check 'em out!
Much like the original, DEATH WISH will center on Paul Kersey, "a soft-tempered family man who turns hard with a vengeance after his wife (Elizabeth Shue) and daughter (Camila Morrone) are the victims of a violent home invasion." One change which the remake has made is to switch up Kersey's profession; while Bronson's character was a New York architect, Willis' will be a Chicago surgeon. As much as I love Bruce Willis, I've been worried that he wouldn't be the right man to play Paul Kersey, particularly as he seems to be sleep-walking through many of his recent roles, but Eli Roth told Yahoo Movies that he's confident that DEATH WISH will represent a return to form for the action-star.
We wanted to bring back that great, classic Bruce Willis we all know and love and just do a fun, badass update of a revered classic. I wanted to bring Bruce back to that Fifth Element, Unbreakable, Die Hard glory and have him craft another iconic performance, and I really think he did it. I mean I really think this can be his Taken. The fun is watching him go crazy and watching someone slowly move the moral goal post.
Eli Roth cites movies such as A HISTORY OF VIOLENCE, SICARIO, UNFORGIVEN, and MAN ON FIRE as influences, but whereas the characters in those movies are skilled at dealing death, Paul Kersey has to start from scratch, in fact, he has to turn to YouTube in order to learn how to handle a gun and at one point almost kills himself with his own ricocheted bullet. "What’s interesting about Death Wish is it’s not a CIA guy who’s coming out of retirement, you know, he’s not John Wick, he’s not a professional assassin," Roth said. "He’s a normal guy, he’s a surgeon, he’s a dad, he’s never picked up a gun in his life. And with each kill as he gets closer to finding the people that did this to his family, he gains a new skill. He gets better and better and better. So by the end of the film he’s really much closer to John McClane… The very things that make him a good surgeon are what eventually make him a great killer."
DEATH WISH will hit theaters on November 22, 2017.